WEDNESDAY,NOVEMBER13,2019 | THEGLOBEANDMAILO REPORTONBUSINESS | B19
The sporting director of the U.S.
Soccer Federation says Gregg
Berhalter’s job as men’s national
team coach is safe despite some
disappointing results.
Berhalter was hired last De-
cember after the Americans
failed to qualify for the 2018
World Cup. The United States
lost to Mexico 1-0 in the CONCA-
CAF Gold Cup final in July, was
beaten 3-0 by El Tri in a Septem-
ber exhibition and lost 2-0 at
Canada last month in the CON-
CACAF Nations League. The
Americans have nine wins, five
losses and two draws this year.
“When I evaluate Gregg and
the coaching staff and what I’ve
seen to date, I’m a pleased man,
and an individual result is not
going to change that. It’s just
not,” sporting director Earnie
Stewart said during a conference
call with reporters Tuesday.
Stewart, then the men’s na-
tional team general manager,
made the recommendation to
hire Berhalter, which was en-
dorsed by the USSF board of di-
rectors. Stewart, who played in
three World Cups for the U.S.,
was promoted to sporting direc-
tor in August, in charge of the
men’s and women’s programs.
To reach the first Nations
League semi-finals, the U.S.
needs wins over Canada on Fri-
day at Orlando, and against Cuba
on Tuesday at George Town, Cay-
man Islands, and must overcome
a goal difference of four against
Canada.
“When you look at these indi-
vidual results of the Canada
away game, no, we weren’t hap-
py. We weren’t happy at all.
That’s really simple,” Stewart
said. “And we have now a mo-
ment to rectify that.”
Berhalter has implemented a
possession-oriented, play-from-
the-back style that American
players have at times had diffi-
culty adjusting to. Qualifying for
the 2022 World Cup starts in Sep-
tember.
“I have no fear at all that we
are not going to qualify for the
World Cup. I’m very, very confi-
dent about that,” Stewart said.
“I’m pleased with the progress.
But obviously, when you don’t
win games, there’s a certain pres-
sure that comes with that. And
we all understand that. That’s
part of our business. But that’s
also something that our players
and our staff and ourselves, we
all need to get through and keep
doing what we have to do – go-
ing on the field every single day,
being within our roles and re-
sponsibilities and bringing what
we have to bring to progress and
succeed.”
Berhalter, 46, is the first per-
son to play on and coach the U.S.
national team. He coached Swe-
den’s Hammarby from 2012-13
and Columbus in Major League
Soccer from 2014-18. His older
brother, Jay, is chief commercial
and strategy officer of the USSF
and is thought to be a candidate
to succeed chief executive officer
Dan Flynn, who retired in Sep-
tember.THE ASSOCIATED PRESSBerhalter’sjob
asU.S.men’s
soccercoach
issafe,USSF
sporting
directorsays
RONALDBLUMDominic Thiem became the first player to
advance from the group stage at the ATP
Finals after outlasting five-time champion
Novak Djokovic 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-6 (5) in a
seesaw crowd pleaser on Tuesday.
That leaves Djokovic facing a winner-
takes-all match against Roger Federer – in
a highly anticipated rematch of this year’s
epic Wimbledon final – to decide who will
join Thiem in the semi-finals.
Federer beat Matteo Berrettini 7-6 (2),
6-3 earlier, which means he and Djokovic
both have a 1-1 record before playing each
other in their last round-robin match on
Thursday.
Thiem improved to 2-0 after beating
Federer on Sunday, while Berrettini was
eliminated after a second straight loss.
The Djokovic-Federer rematch was al-
ways going to be the highlight of the
group stage at the season-ending tourna-
ment – where they have 11 titles between
them – but now becomes even more of a
blockbuster with a semi-final spot directly
at stake.
Federer also has the added incentive of
avenging that Wimbledon defeat, when
the Swiss star missed two match points
before losing 13-12 (3) in the deciding set.
“Actually, it’s good for me to play him
again, and maybe that all helps to get a
chance to get him back,” Federer said.
“Maybe it took me a few days, couple
weeks at most, to get over the Wimbledon
loss. We’ll find out, but I think it’s all
flushed away from my side. A lot of water
has gone under the bridge since then.”
Federer has failed to reach the semi-
finals only once in his previous 16 appear-
ances at the ATP Finals, in 2008, while
Djokovic is trying to equal the Swiss star’s
record of six titles.
Thiem, for his part, has now beaten
Djokovic in four of their past five meet-
ings – although the previous three wins
came on clay, his favourite surface.
In the best match of the tournament so
far, Djokovic needed to play near flawless
tennis in the first set – making just two
unforced errors – to hold off the Austrian.
At 65 minutes, the first set alone was
longer than Djokovic’s entire straight-sets
win over Berrettini on Sunday. But
Thiem’s aggressive shot-making started
paying dividends after that, as he broke
Djokovic to take a 2-0 lead in the second
set and then again to start the third. How-
ever, Djokovic fought back to level at 3-3
and then thought he had earned a match
point when Thiem served at 5-4. With the
score at 30-30, Thiem’s forehand was ini-
tially called wide – before a Hawk-Eye re-
view showed that it had clipped the line.
Thiem held and then broke Djokovic atlove – only for the Serb to break right
back when the Austrian served for the
match.
Djokovic led 3-0 and 4-1 in the tiebreak-
er before Thiem won five straight points
and then converted his second match
point when his opponent hit a forehand
into the net.
The two-time French Open runner-up,
who finished with 50 winners and 44 un-
forced errors in a match that lasted 2
hours 47 minutes, fell onto his back on
the court before Djokovic gave him a
thumbs-up as they shook hands at the
net.
The early match wasn’t nearly as dra-
matic.
Federer earned the only break point of
the first set at 6-5, but Berrettini saved it
with a forehand volley. In the tiebreaker,
the Italian double-faulted to hand Federer
a 5-2 lead and netted a forehand return on
set point.
Federer broke Berrettini to open the
second set, but had to overcome a slight
wobble at 4-3. Federer trailed 15-40 in that
game and had to save three break points
in total before holding with an ace.
He broke again to seal the win when
Berrettini netted a forehand.
On Wednesday, Rafael Nadal faces Da-
niil Medvedev in a rematch of this year’s
US Open final, before defending cham-
pion Alexander Zverev plays Stefanos
Tsitsipas in the late match.THE ASSOCIATED PRESSSnÏQAÌÓN ̈íAD ̈ ̈í[·AðÓAÏnÝæÏ¢Ý ̈AæÓÝÏAÌÓD ̈¢[TnAÝÝnO2AÏn¢A¢L ̈¢e ̈¢ ̈¢TænÓeAð½Tnî ̈¢Î×¹}º,Î3,×ι}º
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ThiemheadstoATPsemis
afteroutlastingDjokovic
TheAustrianwilleithermeet
theSerbagainortakeon
Federer,afterthetwofaceoff
inablockbustershowdown
MARTYNHERMANLONDON
A training camp altercation between Ra-
heem Sterling and Joe Gomez was likened
to a family argument by England manager
Gareth Southgate on Tuesday after the
players’ club rivalry spilled over into the in-
ternational arena.
A day after they clashed on the field dur-
ing a high-profile Premier League game be-
tween Manchester City and Liverpool, Ster-
ling and Gomez were involved in what the
English Football Association described as a
“disturbance in a private team area” after
they joined up with the national team on
Monday.
Sterling was apparently the aggressor in
the exchange – the winger acknowledged
in a post on Instagram that “emotions got
the better of me” – and was dropped by
Southgate for the European Championship
qualifier against Montenegro on Thursday.
“Both Joe and I have had words and fig-
ured things out and moved on,” Sterling
wrote.
Southgate took a conciliatory tone after
bringing forward his planned media ap-
pearance by 24 hours to address the issue.
“I love all of my players,” he said. “We are
like a family and all family have disagree-
ments. Most important for any family is to
come through those disagreements and
work through them. I don’t expect as a
manager to never have to deal with things
that are unexpected or difficult.
“It’s part and parcel of the job and part
and parcel of working with elite players.
Our focus now is to move forward.”
Southgate appeared to absolve Gomez
of any blame in the incident, saying: “Ra-
heem in his post last night explained for a
very brief moment his emotions ran over. It
would be correct to say that’s not the same
for Joe.”
Southgate did not elaborate on an ap-
parent scratch beneath Gomez’s right eye
that was seen as he trained on Tuesday, or
suggestions that Sterling was initially sent
home before being summoned back to
camp at the national training centre at St.
George’s Park in the West Midlands.
He did not mention Jordan Henderson
by name, after reports the Liverpool cap-
tain was central to breaking up the alterca-
tion, but said he was thankful for the inter-
vention of some calmer heads.
England said Sterling will remain with
the squad at the national training centre,
with the team also playing away to Kosovo
on Sunday.
The decision to withdraw Sterling from
contention for the match against Montene-
gro deprives England of possibly its best
player, with the City star having scored
eight goals and set up five more during Eu-
ro 2020 qualification.
England can secure its place in next
year’s finals with a win at Wembley, on what
will be the team’s 1,000th fixture.
One of Southgate’s biggest successes has
been his ability to create a strong bond be-
tween players, no matter what their club
backgrounds are. That hasn’t always been
the case with England.
Only last year, former England defender
Rio Ferdinand said club rivalries “killed”
the chances of the national team winning
anything during its so-called “golden gen-
eration” at the start of this century, whenhigh-profile players from Manchester Unit-
ed, Liverpool and Chelsea were in the team.
“One year we would have been fighting
Liverpool to win the league, another year it
would be Chelsea,” said Ferdinand, who
was a Premier League and Champions
League winner with United. “So I was never
going to walk into the England dressing
room and open up to Frank Lampard, Ash-
ley Cole, John Terry or Joe Cole at Chelsea,
or Steven Gerrard or Jamie Carragher at Liv-
erpool.”
The rivalry between City and Liverpool
is a rather new one in English soccer, with
the two teams vying for the Premier League
title last season and seen as the two biggest
contenders this season, too.
Liverpool, the league leader, moved
nine points clear of City with a 3-1 win at
Anfield on Sunday, and Sterling – a former
Liverpool player – was again a target of vit-
riol for home fans. Gomez went on as a late
substitute in that game and shoved Sterling
in the chest as the two players squared up
before being separated.THE ASSOCIATED PRESSEnglandmanagerplaysdown
altercationbetweenSterlingandGomez
MA¢[nÓÝnÏCÝðÌÓRAnnSÝnÏ¢A¢eLínÏ· ̈ ̈ÌÓJ ̈nG ̈nô[AÓeæÏ¢ÝnÏAÝ[AÝ
A¢{ne ̈¢Sæ¢eAð½PETER BYRNE/THE ASSOCIATED PRESSSTEVEDOUGLAS
Colin Kaepernick, the quarter-
back who inspired debates
about social-justice protests in
sports but who last played in the
NFL more than two seasons ago,
plans to work out for NFL clubs
on Saturday in Atlanta to allow
them to evaluate whether to
sign him, ESPN reported Tues-
day.
Adam Schefter, an ESPN
reporter, tweeted that the league
arranged the meeting so that
clubs could see Kaepernick on
the field and interview him.
In February, Kaepernick set-
tled a grievance against the
league’s teams, saying they
colluded to keep him out of the
NFL after he protested police
brutality and social inequity by
kneeling during the playing of
the national anthem in the 2016
season.
He has not played since start-
ing 11 games that season, when
the San Francisco 49ers finished
2-14.
NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICEKAEPERNICKTOWORKOUT
FORNFLCLUBSSATURDAY